Another Job for Biggles
Another Job for Biggles by W. E. Johns was first serialised in seven monthly instalments as Biggles in Arabia in Collins Magazine for Boys and Girls between February 1950 and August 1950. The book was published in 1951 by Hodder & Stoughton. There have been 2 subsequent editions in the English language, all reprints by Hodder & Stoughton. The events in the book take place in the early 1950s in Arabia and the Horn of Africa on the Red Sea coast. In Oct 1966, Aredit published a French comic strip adaptation entitled Biggles in Arabie as part of its Biggles comics series. Also in the same year, Studio Vandersteen published a different Dutch comic strip adaptation titled Biggles in Arabië. Synopsis Biggles, Ginger and Bertie are sent to destroy a wild crop of a dangerous narcotic called gurra which has been found growing in the Arabian desert. They arrive to find the crop burnt but learn that someone has taken some seeds--apparently to cultivate them. They set off to find the new source of the drug. Plot Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book Characters The Special Air Police *Air Commodore Raymond *Biggles *Ginger Hebblethwaite *Bertie Lissie (Algy Lacey does not take part in the operation--he was said to be on holiday--but he does show up in the last chapter at the Air Police office where he listened to Biggles read out a letter by Captain Norman.) Friends and allies *Doctor Guthram Darnley *Captain Jerry Norman *Kuatim *Zahar *L.A.C. Blakey Others *Abu bin Hamud *Nicolo Ambrimos Aircraft *Percival Proctor *De Havilland Gipsy Moth Places Visited *Aden **Villa el Paloma in the Stretta Fontana *Rub al Khali *Wadi al Arwat *El Moab - in the Danakil desert *Aerodrome 137 - abandoned R.A.F. landing ground in the Danakil desert Mentioned Research Notes *Chapter 1 contains a detailed background of the setting up of the Special Air Police. Biggles had apparently secured funds which enabled him to hire a team of ground crew led by Flight Sergeant Smyth. They had rented a small hangar at Gatwick, with offices and a radio room which would be manned around the clock. There was one or two aircraft for general work on the inventory (no details given), with a liaison officer at the Air Ministry who would arrange the loan of other aircraft from the R.A.F. as needed. Air Police aircraft were equipped with two-way high frequency radio to communicate with one another and with police cars on the ground. *Algy missed this mission because he was away on a yachting holiday. *Biggles' promotion to Detective Air-Inspector is first announced in Chapter 1. Yet in Biggles Air Detective, published in May 1950, he was already Detective Air-Inspector. This is because Another Job for Biggles was first serialised from February to August 1950, predating Air Detective, so there is no discontinuity here. References to the past Incongruities Chronology Editions Another Job for Biggles was first serialised in seven monthly parts as Biggles in Arabia in Collins Magazine for Boys and Girls between February 1950 and August 1950. It was reprinted in the 1951 Collins Magazine Annual (vol 4). 1. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1951. 191 pages, 4 tinted illustrations, one b/w drawing on frontispiece, 11 b/w text illustrations by Stead. Red boards, black letters on spine and cover, with a vignette of an Arab. Book list prior to title page lists 11 Biggles books and advises Biggles Goes to School is coming shortly. Also 5 Worrals books. Price on dustjacket front flap 6/. *Dust jacket in full colour shows the scene where Biggles is confronted by the drug growing gang. The same picture in b/w is on the frontispiece. *the first edition is not particularly rare and examples with dust jackets can be found on ebay for less than £20. 2. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1951 2nd impression reprint. 191 pages, 4 tinted illustrations, one b/w drawing on frontispiece, 11 b/w text illustrations by Stead. Red boards, black letters on spine and cover, with a vignette of an Arab. Book list prior to title page now lists 13 Biggles books, the last one being Biggles Works It Out. Also 5 Worrals books. Same dustjacket picture as 1st ed. Price on dustjacket front flap now 7/6. 3. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957. Another reprint. 191 pages, 4 tinted illustrations, one b/w drawing on frontispiece, 11 b/w text illustrations by Stead. Red boards, black letters on spine and cover, with a vignette of an Arab. Book list prior to title page now lists 13 Biggles books, the last one being Biggles Works It Out. Also 5 Worrals books. Same dustjacket picture as 1st ed. Price on dustjacket front flap now 8/6. The increased price suggests a timeframe of 1957 (compare: Biggles Makes Ends Meet). Category:Books Category:Biggles books Category:Edition research done